Ex-anvan Exec Accused Of Fraud

April 18, 1986|By Maurice Possley and John Schmeltzer.

A $5 million lawsuit charging racketeering was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago against the former president of the Lombard-based Anvan Companies by the firm`s managing general partner, Anthony A. Antoniou.

John L. Marks, who was hired by Anvan in 1973 and who rose to president before being fired in 1983, was charged in the lawsuit with engaging ``in a scheme to defraud`` Anvan and engaging ``in a pattern of racketeering.`` It charges that he secretly formed a competing real estate company which he allegedly used in the scheme.

The lawsuit, assigned to Judge Brian Duff, seeks an order that dissolves the real estate company, recision of interests Marks holds in Anvan property, and damages totaling $5 million, which could be tripled under the federal antiracketeering statute.

It charges that Marks became aware of opportunities from which he profited and ``never told anyone about them.``

Among the alleged opportunities were Grove Associates, a Downers Grove condominium development from which he made $67,500; Market Plaza Shopping Center in Glen Ellyn, which he secretly arranged to purchase through a relative; and the John R. Thompson building at Clark and Kinzie Streets in Chicago, from which he made a profit of $930,000.

The suit charges that over the years Marks was rewarded with limited and general partnerships in various projects that he now refuses to relinquish. The property is valued at $7 million.

Anvan and its subsidiary, Anvan Realty and Management Co., have developed or purchased many properties in the Chicago area, including the Knickerbocker Hotel at 163 E. Walton St. and the Regency-Orleans Building at 166 E. Superior St. The company also was involved in the development of a group of buildings near the Printers Row and Dearbron Park residential projects. It also owned and operated the Abbey Hotel and Interlaken resort complexes in Lake Geneva, Wis.

The company is owned by Antoniou and his family. He organized the company in the late 1950s after working as a general contractor and engineer.